Duelling conspiracy theories deepen U.S. political divide – CBC News

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TODAY:

Spate of conspiracy theories emphasizes how polarized U.S. views of government have become

Patrick Brown sets new speed record for a Canadian political downfall

Theresa May wants the U.K. to spearhead how artificial intelligence can be deployed in a “safe and ethical” manner, in the wake of warnings from people such as Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking

Choose your own conspiracy

It’s pretty clear that there are two Americas — one that loves Donald Trump, and another that can’t stand him. Although opinion polls suggest that the population of the latter is growing while the former shrinks, the divide over the U.S. president remains stark.

Some have alleged there is a ‘secret society’ involving high-ranking FBI officials that has been plotting against President Trump. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Take Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and agents of the Russian government.

Those Americans who prefer Fox News and Breitbart are currently obsessed with a very different FBI “scandal” — one that charges that top brass at the bureau are trying to “stitch-up” the president.

Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who was part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and was later assigned to assist Robert Mueller in his Russia probe, has been critical of Trump in text messages. (Cliff Owen/Associated Press)

“There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, said during an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox gabfest earlier this week.

The supposed proof is found in a story that conservative media have seized upon, but the rest of the press has largely ignored: a romantic affair between an FBI agent and a bureau lawyer, and a trove of their text messages.

Peter Strzok, the agent, was part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and was later assigned to assist Robert Mueller in his Russia probe. He and Lisa Page, the lawyer, exchanged as many as 50,000 texts over a two year period.

Most are quotidian, but a select few criticized Trump — Strzok called him a “douche,” while Page suggested he should never become president.

Now Ron Johnson, a top Republican Senator and chair of the Homeland Security Committee, is pointing to alleged references about a “secret society” as an indication of a plot against Trump involving “high-ranking FBI officials.”

Trump has begun to push the same narrative. He tweeted about the text exchanges twice this week, highlighting the fact that some of the messages have disappeared.

In one of the biggest stories in a long time, the FBI now says it is missing five months worth of lovers Strzok-Page texts, perhaps 50,000, and all in prime time. Wow!

(No one has specified just how many messages are missing, and Trump’s guess seems high — by his estimate, the couple would have had to exchange upwards of 300 texts a day. And the FBI has offered a far more boring explanation: “misconfiguration issues” with bureau-provided Samsung 5 phones.)

The question is whether any of it will ultimately matter in a country that has already absorbed allegations of money laundering, shenanigans with porn stars, and racist talk over just the past three weeks, and moved right along.

For what is truth and what is fiction now seems to entirely depend on which America its voters believe in.

Warp speed downfalls

Patrick Brown has held elected office in Ontario for 18 years, but he was still somehow a bit of an enigma to Ontario voters.

Over his almost three years at the party’s helm, his slow and cautious approach to policy rarely grabbed attention. “Who is Patrick Brown?” was the headline on a Toronto Star profile published this past November, which detailed his hard-working ways, love of hockey and art, and status as a lifelong teetotaler.

A visibly emotional Brown left the Queen’s Park press conference, and resigned a few hours later. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press)

The whole cycle, from media allegations to public judgment to self-sentencing, took just under five hours. A new land-speed record for a Canadian political downfall.

Jamie Baillie, the leader of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservatives, also resigned yesterday over allegations of sexual harassment. While the news came as a shock to voters, his party had been grappling with the issue for more than a month, since a female staff member came forward with a complaint in December.

An independent, third-party investigation concluded that Baillie had breached provincial House of Assembly harassment policies.

There was no such external process for Brown.

The#MeToo movement that has been roiling the entertainment industry since the Harvey Weinstein allegations last October took a while to make its presence felt in politics. Longer still in Canada’s corridors of power.

Some politicians, like Donald Trump, are seemingly impervious to its power. Others, like Sen. Al Franken and Norway’s Trond Giske, staggered on for weeks under the weight of allegations before resigning.

Just hours after Brown’s resignation, Justin Trudeau was asked about one of his own caucus, Kent Hehr, the Minister of Sports and Persons with Disabilities, and allegations that he made unwelcome comments about women’s bodies while serving the Alberta legislature.

“I am unequivocal in my support for women who step forward with allegations of this nature. And that continues,” the Prime Minister responded.

Minutes later, Hehr’s office cancelled a planned Toronto event.

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Make AI safe again

Britain wants to become a nanny state — at least when it comes to artificial intelligence.

In a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Theresa Maydeclared her country’s ambition to become a world leader in deciding how such technology can be deployed in a “safe and ethical” manner.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May gave a speech at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, saying the U.K. wants to become a world leader in determining how AI can be deployed in a ‘safe and ethical’ manner. (Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

“It is a test that I am confident we can meet,” she said. “For right across the long sweep of history, from the invention of electricity to advent of factory production, time and again initially disquieting innovations have delivered previously unthinkable advances and we have found the way to make those changes work for all our people.”

May is placing her government on the other side of the debate from perhaps the U.K.’s greatest mind — theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Physicist Stephen Hawking has warned that, ‘The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.’ (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Back in 2014, the author and former Cambridge University professor delivered a stark warning about the rise of self-sufficient technology.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” he told the BBC.

Today in history

Jan. 25, 1957: Canadians go bonkers for bowling

A half-hour live broadcast from a Toronto bowling alley probably seemed like a keen idea — until the boys set up the mics. Featuring Tommy Ryan, the Canadian inventor of the (far superior) five-pin game, Canada’s “suffragette of bowling” Marianne Dibble, and the omnipresent sound of rolling thunder.

Tabloid: Bonkers for bowling27:11

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